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Sine Mora Review

Sine Mora is a XBLA exclusive from Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture that really shines and shows off just how great XBLA can be. While the story of the game is hard to follow fans of this genre usually aren’t playing the game for the narrative.

Pros:

Visuals: Sine Mora does many things right but the best of them is its art design and graphics. While the game is only a 2-d side scrolling shooter, you have planes flying in from the backgrounds and other various things that give it a 3-d feel. While the story is fleshed out in dialog segments and cut scenes, I usually ended up in awe of the visuals instead of reading the subtitles.

Controls: If you are making a shoot em up title then you have to have great controls and Sine Mora has just what you need. The shooting and flying mechanics of the game work great and while you may sometimes feel that the hit box detection is off it is most likely from a bullet you didn’t see. Power ups like slowing down time are easily activated with the use of the right trigger, while shooting is attached to the A and B buttons. These controls feel natural with where your hands are placed on the controller and you can focus on the waves of bullets flying at you instead of trying to hit multiple buttons.

Timer: Sine Mora tries something a little bit different with the health of your character. Instead of having a health bar with a specific amount of health, it is tied to your timer. The clock is constantly counting down and if you kill an enemy you get more time, but if you get hit by something you lose time. This works great for new comers to the genre as they can keep increasing their time by killing enemies if they are taking damage. On the flip side it also is a welcome addition for those that want to be challenged as they can avoid bullets to get large amounts of time and attempt the high scores.

Difficulty: This one is really both a pro and a con of sorts as it depends of how much you have played shmups. The game only has normal and insane difficulty in story mode and hard and insane during arcade mode. Those new to the genre should play story first as it will attempt to walk you down the path of this genre slowly but it does get challenging quick. The lower difficulties also over more continue credits than their higher counterparts. Veterans of the genre will love the insane arcade mode because bullets will be coming from everyone you will have to play the same levels over and over to memorize the patterns for the higher scores.

Cons:

Language: Sine Mora has voice acting for its characters but you will have to be fluent in Hungarian to understand what they are saying. If you want to know what the characters are saying you will have to read sub titles that pull your attention away from the amazing scenes that are happening at the time.

In Conclusion:

Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture have done an amazing job with this XBLA exclusive. It has captivating visuals, tight controls, and many other things you want from this genre. The price of admission is 1200 MSP but it is fully worth it and I would recommend checking the game out as soon as possible. You won’t regret jumping into the cockpit and taking to the skies for this diesel punk adventure.